Health Education Audio Learning

Brazil

Introduction

Abstract

The Challenge

The Solution

Learning Theory

Design Process

Future Directions

Demo

Theory in Practice

 

Learning Theory

The theoretical underpinnings of our approach are grounded in a range of theories and concepts explored in LDT. In particular, those that emphasize the social aspects of learning and learning through activity inspire our design. Also, design principles that make use of relevant features of the three key learning perspectives – Situative, Cognitive and Behaviorist, will be at the core of our design process. Ideas about how people respond socially to technology, the power of technologies to act persuasively, and the social context surrounding the incorporation of technology into learning also guide our development.

In The Media Equation (CSLI, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 1996) Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass suggest that people interact with media in a personal and social way. Providing opportunities for uses to interact with familiar characters can improve the learning experience for users.

“We think our research shows that media are perceived as real people and places, and that human responses to media are determined by the rules that apply to social relationships and navigating the world. Responses to media are not primarily governed by rules about how to use appliances more akin to a hammer or car”

These ideas will guide the nature and character of the voices we use in our device. Since our interactions will be primarily oral in form it is necessary to think carefully about the perception of and reaction to the voices or characters we represent with the device.

The ideas of Barbara Rogoff emphasize the social context of learning. In Developing Understanding of the Idea of Communities of Learners she states.

“The ideas of a community of learners is based on the premise that learning occurs as people participate in shared endeavors with others, with a ll playing active but often asymmetrical roles in socio-cultural activity. This contrasts with models of learning that are based on one-sided notions of learning – either that it occurs through transmission of knowledge from experts or acquisition of knowledge by novices, with the learner or others (respectively) in a passive role.”

Our project hopes to leverage these notions through a design that incorporates the social context and social relationships into the learning activity. We see our audio device as a facilitator of learning in this context. It will determine social roles, guides discussion, presents facts, and poses questions for participants to reflect on as they move through the learning experience.

Gianquinta et al. also discuss the importance of the social context for learning in Beyond Technology’s Promise. He suggests three layers of the “social envelope” that surround the use of educational technology.

• The hands-on layer – the human-computer-interface
• The social interaction layer – the interactions among people in a certain setting
• The social ecology layer - "overarching expectations about the purposes, structure, and resources of a given setting."

In framing the relevance of these layers Gianquinta states:

"Ultimately any vision of effective educational computing ... will need to pro / vide full descriptions of (1) the computer activities children would be engaged in, (2) when and how often children would be so engaged, (3) with whom and in what surroundings (social, material and physical) these activities would take place, and (4) what goials(s) these activities would be aimed at achieving. It will also have to offer an explanation for why and how these activities and surrounding, so constructed, would achieve the desired goals." (140-1)

These ideas will guide our awareness of not only the social interactions our learning experience prescribes, but also the context in which the learning experience will take place, and how this context will influence and impact the quality of the learning experience we design.

In Cognition and Learning Greeno et al. provide a cogent framework for integrating elements of the three learning perspectives – Situative, Cognitive, and Behaviorist. These ideas will play a fundamental role in shaping the principles of our design.

Behaviorist
(b1) Routines of activity for effective transmission of knowledge. Learning activities can be organized to optimize acquisition of information and routine skill.

A critical component of providing quality AIDS education is the acquisition of basic terminology and information about AIDS and it’s effects. While the social aspects of our design emphasize a change in behaviors and attitudes, basic knowledge transmission will play a fundamental role in developing a conceptual understanding of HIV/AIDS.

Cognitive
(c1) Interactive environments for construction of understanding. Learning environments can be organized to foster students’ constructing understanding o f concepts and principles through problem solving and reasoning in activities that engages students’ interests and use of their initial understandings and their general reasoning and problem solving-abilities.

(c2) Sequences of conceptual development. Sequences of learning activities can proceed from issues and problems that are within reach of students’ initial understanding and reasoning ability to issues and problems that require greater extensions of their intuitive capabilities, accomplishing conceptual growth by refining and extending their initial understandings. We plan to create an environment where students construct broad conceptual understanding of HIV/AIDS and its personal and social impacts. Current approaches to AIDS education emphasize conceptual understanding to inform positive behavior change and to influence attitudes about AIDS. Our primary concern is the construction of a solid conceptual understanding of HIV/AIDS and its personal and social consequences. Our goal is to create an experience that leverages participants existing reasoning abilities and understanding of health and disease to develop a broader conceptual framework that will incorporate HIV/AIDS and its impact.

Situative
(s1) Environments of participation in social practices of inquiry and learning. Learning environments can be organized to foster students’ learning to participate in practices of inquiry and learning and to support the development of students’ personal identities as capable and confident learners and knowers. These activities include formulating and evaluating questions, problems, conjectures, arguments, explanations, and so forth, as aspects of the social practices of sense-making and learning, including abilities to use a rich variety of social and material resources for learning and to contribute to socially organized learning activities as well as to engage in concentrated individual efforts.

(s3) Development of disciplinary practices of discourse and representation. Sequences of learning activities can be organized with attention to students’ progress in a variety of practices of learning, reasoning, cooperation and communication, as well as to the subject matter contents that should be covered.

(s4) Practices of formulating and solving realistic problems. Learning activities can focus on problematic situations that are meaningful in terms of students’ experience and in which concepts and methods of subject matter disciplines are embedded.

At the core of our approach is to engage participants in social practices of inquiry and learning. Participation in activities that evaluate situations, pose questions, and leverage the social practices of sense making are key to the design of our learning experience. We plan to create sequences of learning in which participants address realistic problems in the form of situations that are meaningful and relevant to their daily lives. We believe that the appropriate use of information/communications technology can facilitate high impact socially organized learning activities.

Theory in Practice

The diagrahm below outlines how the theoretical underpinnings described above are expressed in the interactive component of the H.E.A.L. design.